We show that Israeli military forces choose the timing of their attacks so that the coverage of burials of (potential) civilian victims coincides with other newsworthy international events. This strategy is used to minimize the negative impact of the Israeli attacks on the assessment of Israel’s role in the conflict by international public opinion. We find that the strategic timing is only applied when there is room for it (i.e., the conflict is not very intense) and when there are reasons for it (i.e., when the risk of having civilians affected by an attack is particularly high).

We find no such effect for the Palestinian terrorist attacks, which could be explained by the expected different sign of the effect for the domestic vs. international news pressure or by the lack of coordination among different Palestinian factions involved in violence against Israel, such as Al-Aqsa Martyr Brigades, Hamas, or Palestinian Islamic Jihad, or by the lack of sophistication on the part of terrorists.

by The University of Chicago